


Time Together

by atenaglory



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 00:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7244350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atenaglory/pseuds/atenaglory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short piece about Thane and Shepard being together and not! Being! Sad!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Together

**Author's Note:**

> Thane's romance has so much potential but it's just nonstop sadness and then... y'know... so I wrote a bit to test the waters and to sorta understand how I feel about them as a couple. I was thinking of writing something to accompany this from Shepard's perspective, especially since this is so short!  
> I wrote this on my phone at like midnight and just cleaned it up a bit before posting it, so it's not a lot but hopefully there'll be more to come.

For Thane, the most pleasurable part of any day was when Shepard visited Life Support to see him. It had been that way since he'd realized that she was his first friend in ages. Now, he especially enjoyed just observing her be herself. They didn't always talk when she visited. She often carried her work or took time to herself there. People might approach or summon her while she was in her cabin, but in general no one would come to Life Support looking for her. If they knew she was there, they respected her privacy enough not to bother her while she was with her significant other. For this reason, she often took blankets and pillows, and snuggled up with a book or paperwork, or sometimes she even caught up on the news on the floor of Thane's room. Sometimes he had his own business to take care of, and would glance over at her from his chair. When she caught his glances she would smile the gentlest smile at him. It never failed to make his heart skip a beat. Other times, he would sit next to her and feel her fold into him as though they were made to fit into each other like two pieces of a puzzle. So much for his worries about their difference in species.

Shepard was so different when she stopped being the commander and became a woman. She always had to be Commander Shepard on her ship, and so Thane considered himself extremely privileged to see her relax and be herself. As far as he knew, she was only ever this relaxed when she was alone with him. She had so many different sides, all of them beautiful. There was the defender of justice and the people she loved on the battlefield, the leader and friend to her crew, the gentle, accepting, and healing lover to him, and the silly and almost childish woman that she became when she let herself relax. She sometimes watched sports or played games and cheered or groaned, becoming utterly absorbed in whatever entertainment she was taking part in. Forgetting about the war, the troubles, the people lost and the issues with her ties with Cerberus. He loved to see her this way so much. She deserved these breaks and he was so happy that he could provide the space that she needed to take them. 

One day, as she sat on the floor leafing through a book that she had bought during their last visit to the Citadel, she looked up at him in his chair. Her brow was furrowed and her mouth to one side. 

"What troubles you, Siha?"

"It doesn't bother you that I come in here and don't say anything sometimes, right?"

Thane smiled at her, "Not at all, Siha."

"Mm. I hear that if you really love someone, just being in their presence is enough. You don't have to talk, you just have to be together."

"I would deem that an accurate statement."

His smile lingered, and they continued looking at each other for a moment, before Shepard said, "This is the one place that I can just unwind, Thane. This is where I can just be me without having to consider how many hundreds or thousands of lives it'll affect. Thank you."

He felt his chest swell with pride and love at her words. She always said such meaningful things to him, so effortlessly.

"Seeing you unwind and be yourself is a treasure more valuable than any material possession could be to me, Siha. I love you."

Her brows raised, eyes widened, lips parted. She looked like she had been caught completely off guard, but she murmured, "I love you too."

He crossed the room to sit on the floor and wrap himself around her, and this time she laid all of her things aside and buried her face into his chest. They stayed that way until their breathing was in sync, until they felt like one. There would be time to brave everything that waited outside of Life Support some other time. For now, they were together in each other’s arms, and that was all that mattered.

 


End file.
